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July 31, 2015

“This sense of balance between aesthetics and virtuosity is a real measure of talent, and this album displays plenty.” - Culture Court

Oakland, CA - Much to the excitement of music aficionados worldwide, guitar virtuoso and composer Stephen Duros will be releasing a concept album titled ‘AEAEA’ on July 31, 2015! The rippling, rhythmic sounds Stephen Duros coaxes out of his nylon string acoustic guitar has roots in the traditional sounds of flamenco, but he's developed his own style. Bluesy bent notes with a hint of Asia and the Middle East in their tone, octave melodies and rhythms that include suggestions of jazz, reggae, pop and Arab music join the familiar pulse of flamenco's gypsy rumba in his emotionally satisfying compositions.

Stephen Duros performed with Ottmar Liebert from 2006-2009. His playing is featured on Ottmar Liebert’s Grammy nominated album ‘The Scent of Light’ and on his own three solo albums ‘Miranda’, ‘Urban Flamenco’ and ‘Thira’, which won Duros a place on the Grammy Ballot for a nomination in the Best New Age Album of the year category. He has worked with Billboard top 10 World Music artist, Lawson Rollins as the associate producer on the “Urban Trilogy” section of Rollins’ newly released album ‘Traveler’. He also plays in a band called “Path of Light” with Haitian percussionist, Jeff Pierre.

Duros explains that the concept behind the album is, "to recount a musical journey or odyssey. The album tells a story, much like a book does. Instead of songs, the album has 12 chapters that are filled with twists and turns in the place of traditional songs. If listened to continuously, all the music connects into one long piece. The album title 'AEAEA' (ee-EE-a) is actually a mythological island found in the Greek poem 'The Odyssey'. The album isn't about that island per-se, to me it was more of a great starting point for the journey.”

On ‘AEAEA’, Duros played the flamenco, electric and bass guitars, oud, keyboards, percussion, palmas and drum programming. Andrew Reissiger played the charango and also co-produced the record along with Duros. Louis Romanos played the drums and percussion, Gary Moser played the riq and darbuka, Jeff Pierre played a conga solo and the album also features a special guest electric guitar solo by Nouveau Flamenco pioneer, Ottmar Liebert.

Says Duros, “I came up with the first 10 minutes of 'AEAEA' in late 2011, shared it with Ottmar and he was really intrigued by not only the music, but also the concept. He suggested that I continue the journey and see where it goes without worrying about staying in the traditional boundaries of song length and I loved that idea. It was total musical freedom, no boundaries and the writing process was addicting. I do most everything in my home studio from writing, playing, engineering, you name it. Some great musicians also played on some of the sections including an amazing trippy electric guitar solo by Ottmar. I was thrilled he played on the record, he’s such a great musician and friend, I’ve learned so much from him over the years.”

Duros has also been the head lighting designer for the Grammy award winning band Toto from 1999-2014. His lighting work is showcased on Toto's 35th Anniversary – Live in Poland DVD. Also an artist, his cartoon work is featured on on Steve Lukather's signature pedal ‘The Luke’ made by the award winning pedal company, ToneConcepts.

“Stephen Duros is not only one of the most gifted guitarist musicians I know, he is also a renaissance man in that everything he touches in art, music and beauty becomes his own. You hear it in his playing... and my God he is also the best rock ’n roll lighting designer I have ever worked with at the arena level. He did the lighting for our TOTO Live in Poland DVD which went # 1 worldwide in 2014 and is a total pro with humor, love and passion screaming for his work in any and all of these areas. When I heard his music I was floored because not one person could have all this diverse talent and soul.” - Steve Lukather, 2015“You can dig this, people. Romanticism and the call of history, lost civilizations, dream chambers and the effigies of Kings.” - Culture Court